Chapter 1

January 26, 2010

Gus's head shot up at the sound of the door. He should've known Shawn would be late. 'Should've' being the key word. His best friend was loud and unsteady as he made his way in but what was most unsettling was what he was carrying.

Maps. Maps and a huge backpack. No. Two huge backpacks. Not good.

"Shawn. I am not going camping. Don't you remember what happened last time!? We were taken hostage!" Gus said, trying his best to convey how exasperated he was. Shawn chose to ignore it however.

"Gus, Buddy, even you remember that they were actors." He said too cheerfully as he threw everything down on his desk. Half the maps rolled away, bouncing on the ground and scattering about the Psych office.

"A psychopath chased after us!" Gus was pleading now. He didn't want to do this but Shawn had an amazing ability to convince people.

"This will be different. First of all, it will just be us. Secondly," Shawn unraveled one of the bigger maps and threw his finger down upon a location. "We'll know where we are! Here!."

Gus stayed staring at Shawn. His gaze unwavering. He didn't want to look down. He just couldn't. He just.... had to. He let his eyes wander down and could feel his anger.

"Indonesia!?" Gus turned stiffly away and paced.

"Road trip!" Shawn said enthusiastically - his eyes following Gus as he moved.

"Indonesia is 9,000 miles away, Shawn! We have to go over the ocean. It is in no way a road trip and I am absolutely NOT going." Gus grabbed his jacket, he needed to get out of here.

"You have to! I had a dream." Shawn said it like this was definitive proof - like Gus was supposed to say, 'oh, you had a dream! quick! we need to leave now!'.

Gus whipped around. "I don't care what reason you have. Shawn, you're my best friend, and you know I do a lot of questionable things for you, but there are just way too many reasons to not give in to this. Would you like me to list them?"

"What about the reasons for going? I can list those.." Shawn sat down at this desk with a huff, sitting on three of the smaller maps.

"A dream..." Gus deadpanned, not sure why he was still even standing there.

"Not just any dream," Shawn started rummaging through the mess and within a few seconds produced a newspaper - already open to a certain page and folded over. "I had a dream about this." He pointed to an article.

"Six foot taco made in local -"

"No" Shawn interrupted and glanced at the paper. "But where is that? We need to go."

"Shawn..." Gus kneaded his fingers into his forehead. Why did he get out of bed this morning?

"This." Shawn said, correcting the page and pointing to a new article.

"Young girl beaten to death." Gus read grimly. "So what Shawn, you probably read the article and dreamt about it. This happens all the time. How could this possibly make you want to go to Indonesia?"

"I would've thought the same thing... had I actually read the article. Plus, it's a little hard to dream about an article in the paper that hasn't been written yet. I had this dream last night; this is today's paper." A thoughtful look passed over Shawn's features. It was one of his calmer expressions.

"You're telling me you dreamt about something that hadn't happened yet?" Gus couldn't believe he was giving Shawn his attention. Was it April Fool's?

"No." Shawn said after a moment and stood again, his usual energetic motions back again. "I dreamt about it while it was happening."

Gus looked back down at the paper. "It says it happened at 9pm last night. Shawn, you're never in bed before midnight."

"Don't be a silly Susan, Gus! I never said I was sleeping." Shawn's tone was light, but his smile was weird. Like he was forcing it on.

"Oh excuse me. I'm sorry. I wonder why I thought you were asleep. It might be because you need to sleep to dream!" Gus ground out, his patience wearing thin.

"What about day dreaming? Besides -"

"No." Gus said quickly, refusing to play into Shawn's game. He walked over to his own desk and sat down. "How about this? No messing around. Just tell me what happened. I don't want you to ask me any questions. Just tell me about 9pm last night." He expected Shawn to whine and protest. The other man loved to drag things out. Gus had to hide his surprise when Shawn simply sat down and leaned back, looking at the ceiling.

"9pm... last night..." He began, never looking as Gus.

January 25, 2010.

Shawn moved sluggishly around his new apartment. It was a depressing place he'd decided. Nothing fun about it. He missed the dry cleaner. He sighed, deciding it was best not to think about how his hot plate had caused the place to burn down.

He glanced at the stove, watching his water cautiously. He never thought he'd make pasta this studiously. No more fires. He'd promised Gus. Of course it would be easy to weasel his way out of this one. His best friend hadn't really specified a type of fire.

Shawn leaned against the counter in the kitchen and watched the water. Little bubbles were collecting on the bottom. Little white dots. Moving. Shifting. He smelled rain. And rust.

The alley was damp and dark. The girl ran passed him so fast that he almost missed her. He turned but she was gone. This wasn't right. Shawn felt a deep wrongness twisting within him. He wasn't supposed to be here. Nothing would happen. Something passed him again, much slower this time.

It was a man. He was dressed heavily in black and wore a hat. He was carrying something. Someone.

Shawn followed him a few steps, his own shoes making no noise on the ground. He leaned in as the man dropped the bundle from his arms.

It was a young girl. Maybe 9 or 10. Her face was swollen and bloody and her arm was at a sickening angle. The man was gone. Things jumped. Time jumped.

Shawn approached the body. Her eyes were open but Shawn could feel that they really weren't. LIAR. The word washed over him, spoken from nowhere. It sent a chill down his spine. Her eyes were closed now.

Shawn's fingers were cold and numb, but it was the first physical sensation he'd felt since this happened. He smelled burning metal and could hear a terrible beeping.

Suddenly his new apartment's ceiling was staring back at him, bland and bright. He sat up, leaping to his feet when he saw the smoke. He yanked the pot off the stove, his cold fingers barely feeling the burn of the handle. He grabbed the broom and swatted at the smoke detector.

Someone was banging on the door. Shawn managed to knock the detector to the floor and as it crashed down the battery fell out, silencing everything but his breathing and the knocking.

He opened it in a daze and barely remembered telling the landlord that he'd fallen asleep while boiling water.

Later that night Shawn sat wide awake in bed. It all looked so real. The smell... and the dampness. He didn't think he could possibly fall asleep while standing in the kitchen.

By morning Shawn had managed to have a small theory. He was out of bed at 6am and down in the lobby shortly after. He got a paper and sat in a plush chair, flipping through the pages. He didn't see anything about a girl. He sighed, feeling so stupid. This whole psychic thing was really getting to him.

He stood, but stopped when he saw a small headline on the paper another man was reading. Shawn's breathe caught in his throat. The man was leaning against the door, paper opened wide.

"Young Girl Beaten to Death."

_____

Shawn stumbled into the police station, supposedly in the throes of a particularly fierce psychic vision. He'd decided after reading the article that he could be wrong, but he wasn't one to miss an opportunity to be right.

He threw himself down on the nearest desk, scattering its contents and then leaping to the next desk over. He shut his eyes tight and felt strong hands grasp his own arms. He knew it was Lassiter without even opening his eyes.

"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!" He wailed, prying himself free and grabbing the sides of his head.

"Spencer, please. The last thing I need is you coming in here and,"

"She was attacked. But I only see one person. One!" Shawn interrupted and talked louder to drown out the older man's growl of frustration.

"The Peterson girl?" Juliet asked from his left. Shawn doubled over, moaning.

"Dad." He said and surprised himself with how broken he sounded. He was getting better at this. Which was definitely saying something considering if he was right, then he'd actually experienced a real vision and it was nothing like this.

"It can't be her father. He has an alibi. The wife said he was with her all night. She was angry with them and tried to run away. She was attacked" Lassiter said angrily. "Now leave the actual police work to us." The hands grabbed him again and started dragging him out.

"She didn't say anything about the mom..." Shawn mussed, opening his eyes and going over again what he saw as Lassiter shoved him toward the door.

"It was him, Lassie." Shawn pleaded, for once lowering his voice in the station. Lassiter seemed taken aback.

"Then the wife would have to be in on it as well. That's a stretch, Spencer." He said, folding his arms and glaring at Shawn.

"No. I mean, yes. The cover up. She didn't touch the girl though." Lassiter was shaking his head before Shawn could even finish.

"We don't need your radical theories. We've interviewed the parents. It wasn't either of them." The older man said gruffly and turned. Shawn watched him go and couldn't help but swear under his breath. Being an actual psychic was harder than a fake one!

It was like doing everything backwards. Instead of looking at the clues to find out who did it, he knew who did it. He needed to find the clues now. He had to find out how... and why. He didn't have time for this though.

Shawn took a deep breath, collecting himself and turned back into the station.

"Spencer for God's sake!" Lassiter was standing, already about to 'escort' him off the premise.

"Is he here?" Shawn was surprised by how angry he sounded. The other man's face twisted. "Is he here!?" The shock on Lassiter's face was almost humorous.

"He's in interrogation room D. With his wife. It's not him Shawn!" Juliet said, coming up behind him. Shawn ignored her, turning down the hall and storming toward the room.

"Spencer!"

He ignored them, speeding his pace. He could feel anger and disbelief that he wasn't entirely sure was his. His motions were spurred by something foreign.

"You're a monster!" He growled, face contorted in rage as he threw the door open. The father stood, the wife stayed sitting however.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

"You hurt her! You kept hurting her!" Shawn advanced on the man, knowing that his actions were too extreme but unable to stop them. "You said not to tell anyone. You said you loved her! You killed me!" Arms wrapped around Shawn and it wasn't Lassiter this time. Buzz was restraining him.

"Please ignor-" Lassiter said, trying to defuse the situation as he strode into the room, but before he could finish, the wife leapt up.

"I couldn't lose them both!" She shrieked, tears pouring from her eyes.

"Cathy no!"

The world slowed and the sound was suddenly muffled. Shawn leaned heavily into Buzz's back. The larger man supported him without any trouble, pulling him away from the chaos that his mind was having so much trouble processing. The father was yelling, his mouth moving franticly as Lassiter was turning him, pulling out his handcuffs. The wife was sobbing, her face in her hands.

Once the door shut, Shawn felt buzz release him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, leaning down. Shawn felt like a child. He backed up and left the station. He needed to get away and collect his thoughts.

He went to his apartment and delved deep into Gus territory, Googling everything he could on what was happening to him. All of the pages were complete fabrications. Nothing was anything like what he was going through. He'd had a vision! I real one.

Shawn was about to throw in the towel when he clicked on one last thing. A tribe of men in Indonesia. Shamans. A woman had felt she was being spoken to by spirits, so she sought out these men. There were maps, facts, and even pictures.... but nowhere on the page did it say what they told her. He needed answers, and the only way he was going to get them was to make her journey.

___Present___

"You think you're a real psychic." Gus said, feeling like he did after his mother would read him a fairytale.

"I don't know! It only happened once. But Gus, I'm telling you. Seriously. What I said at the station - it wasn't..." Shawn paused, grimacing and putting his head down. He was lost for words. A first. "They weren't mine!"

"Can you do it again? I don't mean to be so skeptical, Shawn, but I think I'm going to need some proof." Gus said, the notion that this might be real finally taking root within him.

"I don't know, Gus. This is all new. I can't go back to the station. Not if that man is there. I don't know what I'll... she'll do." Shawn was fidgeting. This was going to happen. "Listen, I'm going with or without you. " He said, again standing, collecting all of the maps and books he'd brought.

"How long?" Gus kicked himself. How could he possibly be going along with this!? It was insane.

"I don't know. The woman on the site said it took her weeks to find the tribe. She nearly ran out of food. It was on an island that was thought to be uninhabited." Shawn said, still dead serious. Gus was beginning to wish his friend would crack a smile and say 'gotcha!' but it just didn't look like that was going to happen.

"She was working blind though..." Gus said, looking away from Shawn, not wanting to see the relief on his face that he was giving in.

"Exactly! Because of her, we know what island and area to even look. It's only... getting there. We can fly to Jakarta, but from there..." Shawn trailed off.

"What if this is all in your head, and we go all of that way for nothing." Gus tried. This was by far the dumbest thing he was ever considering doing.

"It's real."

TBC....

***

Anyone like this? I have another chapter written but I'm a little scared. I know there are probably a lot of 'Shawn is a real Psychic' stories out there. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!! Thanks for reading!

After this chapter it will mostly be told through Lassiter's POV with flashbacks to what happens during the trip. It'll be a lot of Shawn and Gus and then eventually Shassie.